AN ONLINE GP service in York has had its registration suspended after it was found to be putting patients at “risk of serious harm”.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the care provided by Doc-OneStop to be ‘inadequate’, following an inspection carried out in July 2019.

The provider registered with the CQC in September 2018 and was the first digital medical practice in the UK to do so.

Based at Clifton Moor in York, the practice provides GP services via remote video consultations and also offers walk-in consultations and examinations.

Doc-OneStop was rated inadequate for services that are “safe, effective, responsive and well-led”.

Following the inspection, the CQC took urgent enforcement action to suspend the provider’s registration until January 2020.

The measures were taken to “keep people safe and to allow the provider time to make the necessary changes”.

Beverley Cole, CQC head of primary medical services inspection, said: “We have made our findings very clear to the provider. A lot of what we found on this inspection showed us that patients were at risk of serious harm.

“Our findings were so serious that we immediately took enforcement action to suspend the provider’s registration for six months.

“We did this to protect people from avoidable harm.”

During the inspection, the service was unable to demonstrate that staff knew how to identify signs of abuse or had any safeguarding training, the CQC said.

Staff at the service were required to use certain medical devices in support of the online consultations and examinations, but there was no record of suitable staff training with the equipment, it added.

Inspectors reported there was no documentation of consultations being reviewed by another healthcare professional, making it unclear whether procedures were being performed correctly.

Inspectors also raised several concerns regarding the management and governance of the service.

They said the service provider was unable to show that it had risk assessed the treatments offered or obtained patients’ consent to care and treatment.

There was a lack of policies covering the management and administration of medicines, and inspectors had concerns over the administration of prescription medication.

There was also no evidence that cleaning, or infection prevention and control, was understood or undertaken, the CQC added.

The Press tried to contact Doc-OneStop but was unable to reach the practice.